Scorn and Sentiment
by Serene Eloquence
Summary: What happens when the fierce Waterbender and the troubled Firebender get together? Steam! Set in this day and age, Katara and Zuko struggle to make it through their tumultuous relationship.
1. Fire and Ice

Scorn and Sentiment

"Fuck you, Zuko! I'm done!"

The Firebender dodged as yet another glass plate came soaring his way and splattered on the wall behind him. It missed his head by mere inches.

But Katara wouldn't let up. Plates, forks, spoons, anything she could get her hands on in the kitchen where used for her aid.

"Katara, stop!"

"No! I'm sick of your shit! I'm sick of YOU!" The waterbender screamed and threw every object with tears in her eyes.

Zuko was continuously being backed into a wall, using his hands as a shield. He shrieked as a knife raked across his left hand.

"ENOUGH!", he yelled as a breath of fire. But this didn't phase the water bender. Nothing would.

"FUCK ME?! YOU WANNA FUCK ME?!"

Zuko charged toward the her, picked her up and slammed her back against the wall.

"ZUKO LET GO OF ME!", she continued to flail.

"Why would I?!", Zuko said with a sadistic grin. "You said you wanted to fuck me." He forced her hands above her head and hoisted her upward, pressing his body against hers, torso to torso.

She desperately thrashed her legs around his waist. "Let go of me!"

But he didn't listen. He never did. He held her in place with one hand, and pulled down his pants with the other. He slapped one thigh and slung it around his waist as he forced his way inside. Katara moaned against her will and the other leg soon followed suit. Her breath was caught in her throat as he punished her repeatedly. Over and over. Harder, Deeper, Faster. Zuko growled as steam began to rise from his hand, scalding her wrist. Her back ached and her body yearned as he pounded into her. Her ragged breathing hitched as she screamed for release. She fell to the floor as Zuko dropped her. He loomed over her before he jerked her chin upward and kissed her. Hard.

"Now", he said heaving. "Clean this mess up." He pulled up his jeans, grabbed his keys off the counter and left. Katara sat there, half naked on her kitchen floor in nothing but a nightgown. Heartbroken, sobbing and sore. She looked around at the mess she had created. Chairs were overturned, pictures had fallen and more than half of her silver wear was destroyed.

As bad as this seemed, deep down Katara knew it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Or _had _been. Some fights had ended in scorched or frozen and shattered belongings. Others ended in black eyes, or cuts, or even phone calls to the police. In Katara's reality, this was nothing. But she couldn't deny that it hurt. She shoved her hands in her face and cried. Loudly and freely. At this time of night, she doubted that anyone would hear her. And even if they did, she didn't care. She didn't care about anything but him. Through her tears she wondered where he'd gone. Who he might've went to see. She figured she wasn't the only girl he was seeing. She gave a sarcastic huff; She _knew _she wasn't the only girl he was seeing. And yet, she still stayed. Through all the lies, harsh words, and mortal combat, one thing was absolutely certain: She loved him with all her heart.

When the wave of tears came to a halt, she examined her burned wrist. Again, not as bad as it could've been. She wiped her nose and staggered to her feet. She had a lot of cleaning to do.

**Ok so I have no idea where I'm going with this story but it, quite literally, came to me out of no where so I just had to write it down! Let me know whatcha think and if I should continue!**


	2. In the Beginning

The feather duster was Katara's favorite tool when it came to cleaning. She gave one last swipe on the top of the island.

"There! Done!" She turned around and took in the contents of her kitchen: spotless at last. She sunk down into a stool. She knew cleaning wouldn't be able to take her mind off of things for too long. It had been days since she'd last heard from him. Three days in fact. Nothing compared to the thirty days she'd completely lost contact with him altogether. She shrugged. She could get through this. The phrase "Not as bad as it could've been" became her motto once she'd began seeing him.

She toyed with the ruffled feathers on the marble isle, propped up by her elbows. She shook her head. How had their relationship even come to such a state? It wasn't always that way. Not in the beginning. No, in the beginning, Zuko was the most charming man she'd ever met.

It was cold that night some five years ago. Her best friend Suki had finally settled on a party to attend for New Years.

"C'mon, Katara, it'll be fun!"

Suki was laid out on Katara's bed while the waterbender rummaged through her closet. She paused to glower at her friend.

"You _always _say that."

"I know but I mean it this time."

"You always say that too."

Suki huffed. "Just try it! I mean do you really wanna bring in the new year alone?"

Katara paused. Well, of course she didn't want to bring in the new year alone. But she was used to it considering that she'd done it for the past four years. Maybe Suki was right; it'd be good for her to get out; Katara's social skills would be shot to hell if she didn't. She glance at Suki and hung her head. She reached for the first dress she could get her hands on.

"How about this?"

Suki squealed. "Ah! It's perfect! Let me go get my dress!" She bounced off and bed and flew out of the room. Katara shook her head and smiled.

The club was everything Katara expected. Loud, crowded and filled with alcohol. Despite herself, she had to admit the music was semi enjoyable. She caught herself swaying to the beat every now and again, taking a sip of her beverage. Luckily for her Suki was a good friend and stayed by her side. She was also a good support for whenever she was felt up by a drunk stranger. Katara would slap their hands away and dare them to try it again. They would take the hint and go off to be a lecher elsewhere.

Inwardly, Katara smiled. She could hardly blame her admirers. The royal blue sweater dress she chose to wear clung to her curves in all the right places. She'd worn six inch high heels to match to give her that extra height. Her wavy, chestnut hair was pent up in order to show off the oval opening in the back of her dress.

She and Suki continued to dance until they noticed a crowd beginning to form a circle. Flames were radiating from the middle.

Katara and Suki eyed one another "Firebending dance off!"

They crowded around everyone else trying to get a better view. In the center was one guy covered in tattoos. Flames extended from his feet as he flipped and spun on his back. He was quickly over shadowed by another guy who entered the center walking on his hands, flaring his legs and feet. The crowd was ecstatic. It was cool and entertaining, Katara will admit but no one caught her attention like the third guy who barged into the circle, crump dancing. A cocky grin was etched into is handsome features. He was sporting his notorious Firebender color: red. His hair was jet black and in the typical boy cut. He dropped down for a quick head spin and fire lit up his feet. He flipped upright and jumped back in the circle as the crowd went wild. His grin was even more prominent as the crowd greeted him hard hits and hugs. Katara couldn't help but smile. He was just so damn cute. Who was he?

The crowd eventually broke up and people separated back into their groups. A new song started and the liquor was sitting pretty in Katara's system at that point. Her body flowed with the slow tempo. She didn't try to fight off the masculine hands that groped her waist as she grinded against him. She held up her glass with one hand while the other was held up by his hand. The warmth on her waist slid to her thigh. Katara churned her ass and dipped in front of him and he graciously held on for the ride. She jerked back up, loosening her hair in the process. She looked back and cupped his chin and pressed his lips to hers. His mouth was more than welcoming. Their tongues met and intertwined lazily, hips still stroking. They stopped and she finally turned around to face her partner.

Lusty gold eyes greeted her, along with a cocky grin she'd sworn she'd seen before. Under the light, she could tell that there was something on the left side of his face, however she couldn't make out what it was. A scar maybe? Katara inwardly shrugged. Whatever it was, it didn't take away from the package. She didn't care; she became distracted when he chuckled and she heard his sultry, raspy voice for the first time.

"I like the way you dance."

Katara smiled playfully. "I like the way I dance too." She incased his neck in her arms as he held onto her hips.

"You're not too bad of a kisser either."

She kissed him again in order to reemphasize his point.

They stopped and chuckled.

"I'm Zuko."

"Katara."

"Any chance you're single, miss Katara?"

"A very good chance, actually."

He nodded. "Good to know. So it's safe to say 'I want your number?'"

"Yeah, it's a pretty safe bet."

"Doesn't really matter. I would've asked for it anyway." He flashed her another one of his dangerous grins and she giggled like a school girl.

"LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN! TEN…NINE…EIGHT…SEVEN…SIX…FIVE…FOUR…THREE…TWO…ONE…HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The club exploded with cheers, strobe lights and confetti. But the only thing that Katara remembered was deep, heart tugging kiss from the Firebender at the stroke of midnight.

The gold eyes poured into the blue ones as he grinned and said "Happy New Year, Katara."

Katara's mental escapade was interrupted by a knock at the door. She dropped the feather duster and looked through the peephole. Not to her surprise, it was him.

_See, not as bad._

She braced herself and opened the door.

She drank in the glory of him. Six foot two, midnight hair and sparkling amber eyes. After all this time, the presence of him still left her speechless at times; Scar and all. She wondered if she had the same effect on him.

He raised his hand to indicate what he had to give her.

"Fire lilies.", Katara breathed.

He grinned. "Your favorite."

She took them.

"May I come in?"

She hesitated, and her better judgment told her not to. But oh did she want to. She signaled for him to enter.

He shut the door behind him and waited for Katara to turn around. She stood watching him, holding the flowers close to her heart.

He stepped forward and Katara took a step back. Zuko took note of this and paused. He sighed. "Katara, I apologize for my behavior that night. I was wrong for what I did and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

She knew what this was. This was yet another one of his staged apologies. The low voice. The sad puppy eyes. Even still, her heart ached and yearned to reach out to him. She wanted to forgive him and move on with their relationship.

"Katara?" he stepped forward once again, only this time Katara didn't move. He closed the distance between them and held onto her arms. "Katara, please forgive me."

She was still clutching the flowers and she refused to look him in the eye. She turned her face in an attempt to hide the new found tears. Zuko calmly removed the flowers from her grasp and embraced her. He held her trembling body close to his and laid a kiss on top of her head.

"I am so sorry." She heard his voice begin to break. "I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I know that-" His body began to shake as well, and she held him as tight as he held her as they cried in union.

He sniffed and continued. "I know that I mess things up sometimes. And our fights get carried away. But please believe me when I say 'I love you.'" He pulled back to look at her. Her ocean blue eyes were still glistening with tears. "Do you believe me?"

He slowly released her, sliding his hands down her arms as he did so and caught her wrist. He remembered what he'd done. And he knew that the burn was gone due to Katara's healing ability. He placed a gentle kiss on it and stroked her face. Her eyes were tinged with red and she grabbed the hand stroking her face and smiled. As much as she wanted to say no, as much as she _needed _to say no, she simply couldn't.

She nodded. "Yes, yes I believe you."

He kissed her wrist once more. "Do you still love me?"

"Yes, I still love you." The words came out automatically.

Zuko responded with a smile and brought her in for a kiss; One hand tangled in her hair, the other on the small of her back. Katara clung to the front of his shirt. He broke the kiss, resting his forehead on hers.

"Come to dinner with me."

"When?"

"Tonight."

She pecked his lips. "Where?"

"Where ever you want to go."

"Mm, The Jasmine Dragon?"

"The Jasmine Dragon it is then." He pressed his lips to hers, without actually kissing her. They snickered as they broke apart.

"I'll pick you up at eight?"

"Mkay."

He winked and was gone.

Katara shook her head. He truly was befitting of his element; electrifying and dazzling. She snatched up the forgotten fire lilies and ran upstairs beaming.


End file.
